Golden Promise
by momoberry
Summary: (yukiru) Yuki makes a special strawberry surprise for Tohru! lotsa fluffyness, sappy romance, and wackiness


Golden Promise By Jessica Wong  
  
"There! That was the last strawberry!" announced Tohru happily, dropping the bright red berry into her heavily laden basket. She waved to Yuki as he came up the path from the house. Yuki waved back, butterflies in his stomach. He'd just finished setting up his surprise for her at the house, and he wanted everything to go perfectly. Yuki had planted so many strawberries this year that it had taken a few days to gather them all. It was definitely worth it though, because it gave him an excuse to spend more time with her. He was moved when she had asked if she could help so she could learn from him, and the transition from gardening sensei to being a much closer friend had done wonders for his spirits. Tohru's face had been so eager and bright when she'd asked, and it had continued to keep its sunny appearance all throughout the season, making his life sunny in turn. As he spent more and more time in her company, he felt himself growing and blossoming under her nurturing presence, just the way the strawberries had grown so beautifully and bountifully under her gentle care. These gardening sessions had become the high points in his days, and he only hoped that she felt even half the amount of happiness he did during those special times.  
  
Which are now over, he realized. His heart sank. "Hmmm... maybe we should have planted more..." he murmured, surveying the tidy gardening plot. She must have read his thoughts in his expression because she sighed wistfully, "I will miss these visits to our secret base." His eyes widened and he looked at her, hoping he had heard her correctly. She took his hands in hers and continued. "I'm very happy I could spend so much time with Yuki- kun." His heart warmed when he heard his name on her lips, feeling very happy that she was comfortable enough with him to do so. How magical she was, always knowing how to make him feel special. There was nothing Yuki wanted to do more than to feel her lips against his and hold her tight so that he'd know for sure that she was real, but he didn't want to spoil his carefully laid out plans. Stroking her scalloped-edged pale yellow hair ribbon instead, a little regretfully, he leaned in and whispered, "Come with me back to the house." He helped her to her feet and reached for the strawberry basket.  
  
"Oh no, let me get that please!" insisted Tohru. "The other, um, vegetables, need to be brought in too." Yuki assented and picked up the larger basket filled mostly with... LEEKS. Smiling to himself he mused, "Ah yes, can't forget these."  
  
The walk back to the house was pleasant. Tohru chatted about what she could do with the strawberries and kept thanking Yuki for growing them and being her gardening sensei. Yuki was silent most of the time, just smiling and basking in the warm glow of her presence, regretting that the baskets kept him from holding her hand. He took the basket from her when they entered the home and told her to wait in the dining room, and then went to set the baskets down in the kitchen. Quickly checking that everything was ready and perfect, he went back into the dining room.  
  
"What's going on Yuki-kun?" asked Tohru curiously when she saw him. He just smiled and swept an elegant bow as he grandly pulled out a chair for her. Tohru grinned a little self consciously as she sat down, a hint of pink tingeing the apples of her cheeks.  
  
"Wait here for a moment and you'll find out!" said Yuki, and vanished back into the kitchen. "Close your eyes!" he called and a very apprehensive Tohru obediently covered her eyes with her hands. She shivered with anticipation, listening for his footsteps as he returned to the dining room.  
  
"All right, open your eyes," Yuki suddenly whispered in her ear, making her shiver. Slowly, she folded her hands back down on her lap.  
  
There, on the table before her, was a small frosted pink cake decorated with strawberries. Her eyes lit up and grew very bright. "Oh Yuki-kun!" she breathed. She didn't see the uneven layer of frosting, or the slight lumpiness of the cake, or the clumsy placement of the strawberry garnishes. All she saw was the effort and care he put into something he made with his own hands, for her.  
  
Yuki swallowed hard when she finally turned to him with a radiant look on her face. He concentrated on that look, too filled with happiness at making her smile like that to pay much attention to her exclamations of praise and delight. Yuki smiled wryly at her praise, but appreciated her enthusiasm and was a little proud of his creation, especially since it was able to make her so happy. That was all that mattered; that made up for the hours of frustration and mess he'd spent tip-toeing around last night trying to whip up something decent. It had been very difficult, which was unsurprising considering his lack of culinary coordination and household skills. The ten baking cookbooks he'd checked out were long overdue, and he'd gone through half a dozen eggs before he finally managed to break the required two without mashing bits of eggshells in as well. Yuki was very glad he'd planted so many strawberries this year; otherwise there would have hardly been any left for her after he was through.  
  
Although, that was unsurprisingly Shigure's fault too. Yuki had coolly brushed off Shigure's taunts and jibes about trying to stealing his little flower bride away, saving his concentration for the Herculean task at hand. That is, until Shigure made the mistake of sticking a finger into the batter for a taste. As Shigure lay on the floor, a whimpering mass of bloody pulp, he thought to himself that he'd never seen Yuki flip out at him like that before. Yuki promptly threw the contaminated batter out, and then did the same to Shigure and warned of worse things to come if he were to bleed, or even breathe on the second batch. Despite the ruined first batch, the little ordeal had two benefits. First, handing Shigure his ass on a platter had let off some pent up nervousness and stress, and he was able to whip the second batch up with fewer catastrophes. Second, Shigure had crawled over to Hatori's to lick his wounds and recuperate. Yuki was hopefully thinking he'd be incapacitated for a week, give or take a few days. Kyou was gone as well, kidnapped by Kagura who was inspired to cook up a feast for him after Yuki had told her his idea, which meant he had the house to himself and Tohru for a few days. So far it was turning out wonderfully, and he couldn't tear his eyes away from the perfection captured in the glowing expression on her face.  
  
"Please help me eat it at least," pleaded Tohru. "You should enjoy the fruits of your labor." She beamed beatifically.  
  
"Ah, but the lovely face Honda-san made was reward enough for me," he murmured to her softly, loving the flush of color that rose in her cheeks at his words. Flustered with excitement and embarrassment, Tohru picked up the cake knife and began to cut into the petit confection. Yuki held his breath, his gaze never leaving her eyes.  
  
*TOK!*  
  
"...Eh?" Tohru repeatedly poked at the cake with the knife. "Ano, Yuki-kun, something seems to have fallen into the cake when it was baked!" She looked at him, puzzled. "You didn't happen to loose your watch or anything did you?"  
  
Yuki pretended to look sheepish. "Isn't that strange..." He watched the concentrated look on her face as she carefully cut around the object and dug it out with a fork. Using a napkin, she carefully wiped the cake off of what seemed to be a small plain white ceramic box. "Now what could this be..." wondered Tohru out loud as she mentally ran through the possible kitchen utensils it could be.  
  
She opened the box to reveal a delicate gold ring, lying on a bed of gray velvet soft as a mouse's fur, ornamented by something more special, more touching than the most expensive diamond: a scalloped-edged pale gold bow.  
  
Tohru's hands flew up to her face and she gasped with surprise and emotion, unable to speak. Yuki knelt before her, took hold of one of her hands and slid the ring onto her finger. He clasped that hand in both of his, and gazed up into her eyes with a princely smile. "It is my hope that Honda-san will wear this humble gift and remember that there is one who will always appreciate you, and be grateful for the sunshine you bring to our lives." He brought her hand to his lips and kissed the miniature golden bow. "Thank you for everything, Tohru ohime-sama."  
  
"Aaaah!" Tohru flushed bright strawberry red all over. Never before had she seen someone so honestly charming. Without thinking she dropped down on her knees too and flung her arms around him, lovingly embracing him for that split second.  
  
*POOF!*  
  
Softly laughing apologetically, she picked up the surprised little grey mouse and held him to her cheek. Her warm chocolate brown hair fell to one side around them like a curtain, closing them off in their own little world. "I'm sorry, I've ruined the beautiful moment you planned, but I was just so happy!" Joyous tears threatened to spill out of her closed eyes. Yuki gripped the finger with the ring with his two front paws and nuzzled against her cheek. "No, you haven't ruined it at all. Tohru makes every moment perfect."  
  
The tears flowed over and she whispered, "Thank you for caring."  
  
Yuki stroked her cheek. "Always, Tohru."  
  
"SUGOI!!! Yuki, you were just like a prince!" A very genki golden-haired boy bounded into the room and flung his arms around Tohru.  
  
*POOF!*  
  
"Eh?!" Tohru went into shock-mode. Now an adorable blonde bunny, Momiji climbed up Tohru's shoulder and snuggled against her other cheek.  
  
"MOMIJI!" The mouse ground his teeth. So much for a few days alone with Tohru. He must have forgotten to close the door when they came in from their secret base. "How long have you been there?"  
  
The rabbit grinned. "Since you put the ring on Tohru's finger." His ears perked and he clapped his paws. "Yuki was so cool! Ha ha!" Tohru calmed down and cuddled them both. Momiji was content, happily rubbing her head against her cheek, until he caught a glimpse of cake. "WAIII! Tohru made cake!" He scrambled up onto the table, then paused and scrutinized it closely. "Heh? It's kind of strange looking, and cut all messy... Yuki, you didn't mess up Tohru's cake did you?!" He glared at Yuki with an admonishing eye.  
  
Yuki bristled and his tail pointed straight up. "What did you say?!"  
  
"Ah!" Tohru waved her free hand in front, trying to placate them. "In fact, Yuki made that lovely cake himself!" Tohru smiled softly. The bunny on the other hand blanched and edged away, obviously not trusting Yuki's abilities with food. Not noticing Momiji's reaction, she lit up with enthusiasm. "I'll go get extra forks and plates so we can all enjoy Yuki's creation!" Smiling, Tohru set Yuki down next to Momiji, then headed into the kitchen.  
  
Momiji eyed the rather crumbled cake warily. ".Yuki made this? I don't think we should let Tohru eat it then."  
  
Yuki nipped the end of the bunny's ear, making him yelp. "I'm sure I got it right." He hesitated, and then tentatively nibbled on a stray crumb. Momiji peered at him for a while, then, seeing that the mouse didn't keel over and was in fact proudly licking his delicate paws, tasted a bit of the frosting. His eyes widened and Yuki watched him a little nervously.  
  
"Ah! Oishii! This is amazing, Yuki!" He happily stuffed his face into the chunk by the ceramic box and munched away. Yuki let out a sigh of relief; if it passed the test of a sweets connoisseur like boyish blonde cousin, it must be fine. Tohru's influence must have really affected him if he had actually managed to bake a decent cake, he reflected, half surprised, half amazed.  
  
"HA HA HA! SOUYO NE! OF COURSE IT'S AMAZING! THAT'S THE MAGIC OF ROMANCE - TRUE LOVE DESUYO! HA HA HA!"  
  
Yuki froze and cringed inwardly, thinking dark thoughts. Ayame swept into the room with a toss of his moonbeam locks, followed by a sweat-dropping Tohru. The mouse turned his back on him, trying to contain his irritation as a vein pulsed in his temple. Shigure poked his head in, holding up the forks and plates. "Ne, Yuki, can we have some now?" Yuki smacked his forehead. How could the dog have healed so quickly? He should have beaten him harder. Damn Hatori for his doctoring skills! Shigure waved the eating utensils hopefully. "I'm sure I didn't bleed into it!"  
  
Tohru went into shock-mode and Momiji's eyes bulged.  
  
"Is Shigure-san hurt?!" exclaimed Tohru anxiously. Momiji's bunny ears wilted and he looked slightly queasy, pushing the cake pieces away from him.  
  
Yuki rubbed his temples and shook his head. "No, there's no blood in it. I made a completely new cake after I sterilized the kitchen while you were over at Hatori's. So stop looking like that Momiji, you're going to scare Tohru." He indignantly walked across the table towards Tohru, not seeing the raised eyebrows and exchange of startled but approving glances between his relatives at the casual use of her name.  
  
Ayame recovered first. "FOR YOU, BEAUTIOUS LITTLE BROTHER OF MINE, WITH ALL THE LOVE FROM MY HEART!" Ayame grandly presented Yuki with a large slice of scavenged cake, resulting in a lot of involuntary twitching from Yuki's left whiskers. Momiji busied himself with cake foraging, and Shigure pouted as Tohru momentarily lapsed in her worried fluttering over his "ravaged wounds" to sparkle earnestly at the magnanimous snake's wonderful brotherly gesture.  
  
"Stop being stupid!" Yuki burst out. "Don't serve me the first piece, this cake is for Tohru! Baka!" He snatched the plate away and marched in front of Tohru who had resumed hovering over the dog. Yuki sighed, annoyed, thinking, "You can practically see him wagging his tail, that pathetic mutt. I should've split that fake quivering bottom lip of his." Shigure continued to pitifully point out the numerous bruises, pretending to stalwartly endure the agony, but obviously basking in Tohru's attention. Yuki set down the slice and glared pointedly at the dog. Shigure flinched, coughed, and hurriedly assured Tohru that he'll endeavor to survive the effects of the furious force of Yuki's love for her. Yuki sent the cake knife slicing through the air in Shigure's direction, effectively silencing him with an "Eep!" when he saw how the knife had been embedded to the hilt into the wall.  
  
Tohru had flushed and clutched her hands together self consciously in her lap again, but Yuki caught her glancing down at the ring gracing her finger. Their eyes met, and both warmed at what they found there.  
  
"Shall we share this?" asked Yuki, smiling gently. Tohru smiled back, feeling that there was more than one question in his words.  
  
"Hai!" 


End file.
